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Healing the Long Cleeve by TopazTook	7 Review(s)
Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/4/2005
Poor Everard. Hope that Pimpernel is truly happy with him. Author Reply: She is. And Everard is a happy hobbit, too. (Can’t have all the marriages in this story be overly complicated!)

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/15/2004
I love this chapter. Very full of old-fashioned details, about servants and so forth. Well-done; you must have done a lot of research. And Pimmie's married to that Everard! I had forgotten that this version of Everard was yours; I like this very much. I wonder, though, what Paladin and Eglantine thought of her making a match with the "slow" hobbit--whether they would have worried about future children, etc. Author Reply: Thank you, I like this chapter, too. And I have done a lot of research for this story (there will likely be a bibliography in the author's notes at the end), although not specifically on servants, I have to say. That comes more from other books I have read, and tours I have taken of 19th century mansions -- where I saw things like that bell setup that I thought was so cool. I'm glad you like Nellie and Everard's love story, too. I'm sure Paladin and Eglantine had a chat with her about it, but this match occurred before the evil events of 1419, and she was in love with him and he with her, so they did not feel they could object to a marriage she chose for all the reasons she tells Pippin in the chapter. You notice she does just have the one child, though, and that's all she's likely to have.

Alayna the Tallest Hobbit	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/9/2004
Loved "Nellie's Song", very creative. Too funny about Pippin running out of corners to fill! I wonder how much he actually ate...probably something akin to Thanksgiving dinner, I know I always stuff myself. I'm glad Pip treats the servants as equals, it fits his personality perfectly. If I think of something more to add, I'll be back. Alayna Author Reply: Oh, yes, the food scenes definitely found influence and inspiration from Thanksgiving dinners, as well as those "all you can eat buffets" where you just feel like you have to get your money's worth...sigh. Glad to know you found the humor in it. :) I'm glad you like the way he treats the servants as well. I think part of that is the influence of his friendship with Sam. As for Nellie's song, I looked for an appropriate song first to adapt first, and then came up with her nickname backwards from that. (The second verse of "Darling Nelly Gray" is actually very depressing; it makes clear that the character in the song is a slave who has been sold away from her true love. I didn't know that before I started the research, and I can assure you that that sort of thing won't be happening in my hobbit fiction!)

Kriszta	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/31/2004
Certainly, you can send him to me, although I am as far from being a psichoanalist as possible. I happily read that Diamond had a chance to see a happy and healthy marriage, that a wife can behave herself a very different way than she was taught/conditioned, that a woman is not only a supplement to his man, but a individual being with her own opinion. I don't suppose she has realized that consciously, and I would be glad to see more direct action from Pippin in this matter; Diamond is not a very independent person yet, only a shadow who always says "yes", and it can be quite irritating, even for such a patient man like Pippin. Author Reply: Oh, but you can't change the way you were taught/conditioned to think and behave overnight, and that always stays with you as a part of you. You have to make a conscious effort to "unthink" things if you want to change. While I certainly don't disagree with your assessment of "women's place" in 21st century America (the White House certainly being one of those places that I hope I'll see in my lifetime), I am trying to keep these characters in character for the setting they're living in.

Ariel	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/29/2004
All caught up and realized I hadn't left you a review. This is a marvellous story! The characterizations are believable and they work together well. The story flows very smoothly and sucked me into the action after chapter 3. I certainly hope you are going to reconcile the two of them! Pippin has to break through that very frustrating demure exterior. You have gotten me all worked up for a really hot love scene you know (you always got to watch the quiet ones)! Heheheh... Needless to say I am looking forward to new chapters eagerly! Thank you for this lovely tale! Author Reply: Thank you so much for all your comments! I'm trying to keep them all "in character" for themselves, and I'm glad you think it's working. I've also noticed that the plot/action in my multi-chaptered stories always seems to actually get going in Chap. 3 -- Chap.'s 1 and 2 were kind of prologue-y, but necessary, I felt. As for what's going to happen...well, let's just say I haven't written Pippin into a sad ending yet, and also I like to do a slightly different take on things than what else is out there. The "really hot love scene" might be a bit of a challenge as I try to stay within SOA guidelines for PG-13, but we'll see what we can do, ;) LOL. I'm trying to post at least a chapter a week; possibly sometimes more, but, as I said in a post to a review of another story, this one is long and complex. Thank you for all your lovely comments!

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/27/2004
Does it sound incredibly mean to say that Diamond will be lucky to get through the early days of marriage without driving Pippin insane? Of course it does. Poor girl. Pippin has survived worse. Author Reply: Erm, well, it does sound a little, umm, "unhobbitlike." Pippin has indeed survived worse than being married to a lass whose "fault" appears to be that she has been trained since she was the equivalent of 16 years old to fulfill her duty by doing what her husband wished. Which she has expressed in the chapter that you're reviewing by practicing checkers by herself because he likes to play, attempting to feed him well (many newlyweds get nervous about their first dinner party/first time the inlaws come over -- she has to feed the whole dang smial!), and saying that she thinks his love song is beautiful. Which, by the way, if you'll notice, is the first direct opinion she has expressed to him.

Lyta Padfoot	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/25/2004
So we see the first steps toward a real relationship instead of a foirmal dance to satisfy custom. The interaction between the characters was beautiful in this chapter - though Pippin really ought to tell Diamond to call him by his nickname! Author Reply: Thanks for your comments on the character interaction -- and keep watching what goes on with the names.

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